United States-Decline in beef farming.

UNITED STATES-DECLINE IN BEEF FARMING.

Last year, the number of beef cows in the U.S. dropped to 41.8 million, an all-time low, down from a high of 50.2 million reached in 1982.

In 2007, the last year for which data are available, the number of calves they produced reached its lowest mark since 1951.

And the number of ranches and other types of beef-cow operations has dropped to fewer than 758,000. Statistics from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association show that’s the fewest on record and a 22 percent decline over the past two decades.

Andy Groseta is a third-generation Arizona rancher whose term as president of the association just ended. He says ranching is a dying industry, because there’s not enough young ranchers.

Eventually, he says, the country won’t be able to feed itself.

To pay the bills, Richard Cool drives 45 miles down a lonely highway from the family ranch to an auto parts factory where he works the overnight shift.

It ends at 6 a.m., then Cool’s future begins.

He says he’s been hoping for 15 years to own his own cattle, and now he sees it as a possibility.

A first-of-its-kind program at a small agricultural school in western Nebraska could help turn his dreams in reality.

The 100-Cow Program offers hopeful ranchers with no collateral, low-interest, government loans of up to $300,000 if they complete a ranch management course. Besides teaching students the best way to raise livestock, it teaches them how to run a ranch as a successful business.

Industry experts say it could be a template for the rest of the country.